Global insurer reports 1 in 10 SME’s have been hacked

Hiscox, a 100 year old insurer with over 100,000 SME’s on its books, has recently reported that one in ten SME’s* in the UK has suffered a data hack. It’s commonplace to think that the majority of hacking is limited to the corporate monoliths like Sony or protests against Government web sites. These figures from Hiscox though re-enforce a view that hackers are indiscriminate and will exploit weaknesses where ever they find them, potentially putting any size of organisation at risk.

Alan Thomas SME Insurance expert at Hiscox commented “Cyber crime is costing the UK economy around £11bn** a year and while the media is reporting a growing number of high profile data breaches, some small businesses may also be a popular target for hackers because their systems are usually easier to get into and the breach may not be found out for a good few weeks.”

Increasingly the largest threat all businesses face is from the online world. And whilst cyber security may be well down the list of the entrepreneur’s priority’s list, it is something they must address.

Thomas continued…

“It is increasingly important for small companies to evaluate all the risks their businesses face, both online and offline, and include their IT security and protection requirements in the overall contingency strategy.”

Cyber crime is here to stay and no one is exempt from its threat. The danger for SME’s is that they are under prepared and that in the event of an attack the effects are potentially disastrous.

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